We go to Dutch Bros, and it’s standard enough
Two drinks, two straws, two of the little sliders they sell now
We pay for our food and drive off
And it’s just Dutch Bros coffee, but it’s the first time we’ve gotten Dutch Bros together,
And I’m realizing that it’ll probably be the last time for a while
This little detour off the highway will become the Dutch Bros detour
The one we’ll reference all the time, saying
“Hey, remember when you got that dulce de leche latte, and I got that salted caramel hot chocolate?”
And we’ll both remember because
There will be no other instances to compare it to
I’m getting on my plane tomorrow
She’s driving me to the airport and then driving back home, an hour from Nashville
When I pass my local Dutch Bros back home, I’ll think of her
Think of us
That moment waiting in line together
How special we didn’t know it was
Jamison Conforto is a literary agent and an award-winning writer. He grew up among the fields and mountains of the Salt Lake Valley, where much of his work was inspired. Conforto’s literary work has appeared in Spare Change Literary Magazine, Lupercalia Press, The America Library of Poetry, Exposed Bone, and Eber and Wein, among others. His poetry collection “Antelope Boy” received recognition at the Sigma Tau Delta Centennial Convention held in St. Louis and in the 2024 Utah Original Writing Competition held by SLCC. He served as a poetry editor of Southern Utah University’s undergraduate literary magazine for their 2024 edition, and graduated from that university with a degree in creative writing that same year. You can find out more at https://www.jamisonconforto.com/.
Featured image by Ceyda Ciftci on Unsplash.
